The ringing of the bell on the Capitol at midday was the starting signal for the annual carnival in Rome. One of the many accounts that can document the popularity of the carnival among both Romans and tourists is a letter from one of Thorvaldsen’s friends, Fanny Caspers (1787-1835), dated 16.3.1819. The Via del Corso in Rome was one enormous stage, filled to capacity by crowds of people, all masked and dancing.
August Krafft has, however, placed his motif in a side street and has concentrated on a small group of figures. They are performing a caricatured dance to the sound of some string instrument equipped with a pig’s bladder. The dancers give an impression of how the carnival could also be described as an intolerable cacophony of wind instruments, bells and various rattles.
It is unusual and suggests close friendship when, in addition to this engraving, Thorvaldsen possessed the painting by Krafft (inv. no. B242) that is reproduced in this engraving; in addition he owned the drawing that was Krafft’s preparatory work for the painting (inv.no. D841) and the one (inv.no. D842) which Krafft used to copy the painting in order to make the engraving.
